


Back to You

by TripCreates



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Free! Dive to the Future, Free! Dive to the Future Spoilers, Introspection, M/M, Morning Routines
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2018-07-12
Packaged: 2019-06-09 13:08:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,002
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15268164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TripCreates/pseuds/TripCreates
Summary: He’s floating on his back sometime later, staring up at the sky through the glass ceiling, when he hears the door open and close. Haru glances over to see Makoto approach the pool. It’s still odd for Haru to him wearing regular blue swim trunks instead of the full-length black and green ones for competing. It’s just another reminder of the different paths they’ve chosen in regards to swimming.“Good morning, Haru,” he calls before jumping into the pool.





	Back to You

**Author's Note:**

> Who else is excited for the new of Free!? I know I am!
> 
> This is just a little fluffy idea I came up last night while discussing the first episode with a friend and couldn't stop myself from writing it. There's not much to this. I just like the idea of Haru and Makoto making it a routine to swim together in the mornings before class. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Hope you enjoy!

The pool is quiet as Haru enters. It’s too early in the morning for anyone else to be here and that’s the way he likes it. He’s glad he was able to work it out with the manager to let him come by early in the mornings to swim. It didn’t long to become routine.

Haru steps onto the middle block and adjusts his goggles before diving in. He takes lazy strokes as he glides through the water. There’s no need to go fast and push himself here. Having a large indoor pool like this sure beats spending the morning just sitting in his bathtub like he used to.

 

He’s floating on his back sometime later, staring up at the sky through the glass ceiling, when he hears the door open and close. Haru glances over to see Makoto approach the pool. It’s still odd for Haru to him wearing regular blue swim trunks instead of the full-length black and green ones for competing. It’s just another reminder of the different paths they’ve chosen in regards to swimming.

“Good morning, Haru,” he calls before jumping into the pool.

Since the first time met up here, Makoto stopped trying to pull Haru from the pool after it resulted in him being pulled in. The memory still brings a smile to Haru’s lips even though it’s been _weeks_ since it happened.

It doesn’t take it long for Makoto to reach Haru in the middle of the pool. He comes up next to Haru and rests his arms crossed on the lane divider.

“Taking it easy this morning, I see?” Makoto says.

“Yeah.”

Haru still has swim practice after this and he knows it’s not smart to exhaust himself now. His training regime for college is nothing like it was in high school and he needs to conserve his energy for it. He can’t let Asahi get the edge on him.

“But we can still swim,” Haru adds.

“You sure?” Makoto asks. “I don’t want you to get tired before practice.”

“I want to.”

Now that they’re no longer on a team together, times like this was their only chance to swim together. And Haru does not want to give that up.

Makoto smiles. “Alright, Haru.”

 

Once they’re done swimming for the morning, Makoto is the first out of the water and offers his hand to Haru.

It’s second nature for Haru to take his hand without even thinking about it. He climbs out of the pool and feels Makoto give his hand light squeeze before letting go.

They make their way back to the locker rooms to rinse off in the showers and change before heading back to Haru’s apartment.

Haru slips on his apron to start preparing breakfast as Makoto seats himself at the table. He pulls out his textbook to review for an upcoming quiz while he waits. There’s a comfortable silence as they each do their own thing. It’s nice.

Haru glances over his shoulder to watch Makoto for a moment. They hadn’t planned for this to be their morning routine, it just happened when the semester started. It gave them some sort of normalcy to their new hectic, college life. Something that Haru is grateful for and he knows Makoto feels the same.

With a soft smile on his lips, Haru turns back to the frying pan and flips the fish.

 

“No more studying, time to eat,” Haru says as he starts to plate the food. He likes for them to enjoy a meal together without school work being involved.

Makoto closes his book and sticks it back in his bag as Haru approaches. “Thank you, Haru. You know you don’t have to cook for me every morning when I come over.”

Haru sets the plate and bowl of rice down on the table and shrugs as he goes back for his own. “I don’t mind.” He’s going to be cooking for himself anyway so he might as well make something for Makoto as well.

He soon sits across from Makoto and they start eating. Makoto shares his upcoming schedule for the day and Haru talks about how the new swim team is going.

“We should try and get dinner together this week,” Makoto suggests.

“Sure, how about tomorrow night?”

“Ah, I can’t. Study session with some classmates. What about Thursday?”

Haru shakes his head. “No good either.”

Makoto sighs but gives Haru a lopsided smile. “We’ll figure something out then.”

Haru nods as he takes a bite of fish. They were still working on finding a balance between their different schedules as they adjust to the new college life. He hopes it’ll become easier over time since he’s so used to seeing Makoto most of the day. He has to remind himself that they’re not in Iwatobi anymore.

 

After the dishes are washed and put on the drying rack, it’s time to catch their trains to campus.

They walk side-by-side to the station until they have to part ways. Haru still hates this part.

“I’ll talk to you later, Haru,” Makoto says before crossing the tracks.

“See ya,” Haru says back.

They each board their separate trains and Haru takes his usual spot close to the window. He looks across to see Makoto smiling at him and waving. Haru gives a wave back as the trains begin to pull away from each other in the opposite direction.

Haru watches Makoto’s train until it’s out of sight. He knows the temporary separation will be good for them in the end even if he doesn’t like it. Now that they’re both technically adults, Haru can’t expect them to spend as much time together as they did growing up.

And while the world acts as if it’s trying to pull them apart, Haru knows that it won’t happen. They’re in Tokyo together after all. Even if they are going down their separate paths towards their own goals, he knows they’ll always lead back to one another. And that makes it all okay.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm so ready to get back into writing these boys some more as the season continues!
> 
> If you liked this and want to share it on tumblr, use this [post](http://bekasyura.tumblr.com/post/175826421776/back-to-you). Or for twitter, this [post](https://twitter.com/tripcreates/status/1017527911652515842).


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